


Improper Recycling

by Turquoisephoenix



Category: Ratchet & Clank
Genre: F/M, First one to use the RaC Zed tag whoo, Friends to Enemies to Friends Again, Gen, Happens before the Life of Pie short, Keeping it intentionally vague, Rebootverse, Rebuilding that friendship despite being on opposite sides of the law, They're either just friends or in denial of how much they care
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-19 08:14:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29871741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Turquoisephoenix/pseuds/Turquoisephoenix
Summary: Most people throw away or sell their old computers after they buy a new one. Elaris instead gives them to a friend in need. [Post-2016 Movie, pre Life of Pie Short] [One-Shot] [Elaris/Dr. Nefarious friendship]
Relationships: Elaris & Dr. Nefarious, Elaris/Dr. Nefarious
Kudos: 9





	Improper Recycling

**Improper Recycling**

**Author's Notes: This is set in the Rebootverse and takes place before the Life of Pie short, but after the movie. Dr. Nefarious already made his big comeback from the dead so everyone already knows he's alive.**

**And yes, this is all to explain why they reused some Ratchet and Clank movie background elements for the Life of Pie short rather than just writing it off as a money-saving gesture by the background artists.**

* * *

It was 9 pm on a Friday when Elaris decided to commit a crime. One that would've stained her record forever if anyone knew of it.

The villainous set-up was really mundane and, despite being on edge the whole day since she scheduled the meeting, it really was just a normal evening in Galactic City. It was one of those natural lulls between dramatic plans by various supervillains to conquer the galaxy, all stopped by intrepid new superheroes Ratchet and Clank, who were quickly rising to stardom and outshining the Galactic Rangers in their various heroic pursuits. Nothing had really happened this week that was out of the ordinary, but everyone in the city limits was grateful for the peace and quiet.

After she had parked her vehicle in a mundane public access parking garage (and making sure to feed the meter and hooking The Club to her steering wheel) Elaris traveled down the broken corridors that ran through the bad part of Galactic City while comically tugging a wagon full of expensive monitors and computer equipment. Galactic City had an army-sized battalion of cleaning droids to make sure the more populated areas of the city gleamed immaculate with not a freckle of dust marring their surfaces, but their patrol routes didn't cover _every_ inch of the city.

She traveled alone - she made sure none of the other Galactic Rangers followed her or knew what she was doing - but she was on enough billboards and had a visible Combuster rifle holstered on her hip that she was left alone despite her expensive cargo. The usual Grummelnet vendor or used watch salesman kept a wide berth from her. Pickpockets were suddenly very interested in the sidewalk and refused to meet her eye.

She weaved behind buildings, making sure to keep her gait casual so as not to arouse any suspicion, until she ended up near the dumpsters that were shared by a computer store and an out-of-business family restaurant. She was away from the bustle of city activity, with the occasional sound of distant sirens being the only thing telling her of the world outside. Eviction notices dotted one of the building's sides as the stench of rotting food filled the air. Steam hissed out from the buildings. Occasionally something small and furry would dart away from her feet and scurry into a nearby hole.

She wasn't alone in this alleyway.

As her eyes found the soon-to-be new owner of her electronics crouched near some dumpsters, his hands scrambling through discarded trash to find precious metals or discarded chips while his little sidekick yelled encouragement behind him, her mind replayed an earlier conversation in her head.

_"It is quite lovely that you are upgrading your work station, Elaris. Perhaps you would like me to find a new home for your discarded monitors?"_

_"No, it's fine! I'm actually giving these to someone I know."_

_"Sounds intriguing. Would you like me to accompany you on this mission?"_

_"I wish, but the person I'm giving these to is a bit shy around strangers. He just wants to meet me and me alone."_

_"Ehehehe, how exciting! Do tell me how it goes tomorrow!"_

She gritted her teeth so hard that her jaw began to hurt. She hated how everyone in the Galactic Rangers trusted her so readily to be a good little girl scout, which made this back-alley meeting with one of the notorious supervillains in the entire galaxy feel like a dark blemish on her otherwise perfect record.

Clank would never forgive her if he saw what she was about to do.

Elaris still hadn't made up her mind on what she felt about Dr. Nefarious's new form as she studied him from the short distance that separated them, a distance that was growing smaller with each new step. Repulsion? Fear? Disgust? Admiration for a fellow scientist breaking through the veil and finding the mechanical breakthrough of the century by miraculously replacing all of his flesh with metal and living through it all?

And yet, as she watched him, a young adult who had his life literally ripped from him by a grisly accident crouched between buildings rooting through the trash with a dead man's personal assistant droid, the main emotion she felt was _pity_. There was a distant ache in the back of her heart as she watched what Dr. Nefarious had been reduced to and her hatred of his actions was quickly engulfed by her foolish want to help him.

Her pity only increased when they locked eyes - her state of the art electronic visor meeting his cheap sunglasses - in that alleyway and he immediately scrambled over to her with not a single iota of distrust or suspicion. Whether it was because he trusted her like an old friend or because he believed he could quickly overpower her in a fight was yet to be seen.

"Whatcha got this time, Elaris?" he said quickly in a hushed voice, trying (and failing) to disguise the bubbling excitement rising in his voice as he took off his sunglasses and his glowing red eyes became more visible.

As he pocketed the sunglasses, clunky metal fingers adjusted the grim reaper costume from Party City that functioned as his "disguise" while he made technology runs in the city. The black fabric was doing its best job to block out the glowing parts on his robot body and make him seem less noticeable, but an unfortunate side-effect made green and red light filter out of his sleeves and hood like he was a ghost suffering from eternal damnation.

' _Fitting'_ , she thought dryly, when she arrived at that simile. At least when he was wearing the sunglasses, he was a _radical_ eternally damned ghost that looked ready to say a 90's catchphrase.

Zed wore no disguise, probably because the only costumes that were Zed's size were meant for small dogs and Zed didn't want to go as a giant floating hamburger or a fairy princess. Thankfully, Zed was a type of personal assistant droid that was frequently spotted with businessmen of all different types of life in Galactic City. If anyone was spying on them (and Elaris was positive she wasn't being followed, her headset would've alerted her otherwise), they'd probably think she was making a deal with some organized crime member or someone who didn't want the latest AAA video game to be leaked.

The tiny floating robot waved excitedly to her - she knew from a previous conversation with Zed that she was the only Galactic Ranger that he liked since she was the only one that treated him with kindness back during "The Deplanetizer Incident" - and she gave a quick but dismissive wave back while Nefarious lightly pushed him farther away from him.

She gave the little wagon a tug until it was in-between the three of them, its computer treasures glittering underneath the unnatural lighting of their new host. Sharp metal talons snaked out and grabbed the closest monitor like a rat seizing a piece of cheese.

"You know the reason why I'm giving these to you, right?" she said in a stern whisper. There was something in the tone of her voice - something cold and judgemental - that caused his hands to freeze in place and for him to look up at her.

"It's because of last Wednesday, wasn't it." Dr. Nefarious said in a flat voice, electronic eyelids narrowed. There was a slight smirk and a bit of cattiness to his voice that Elaris didn't appreciate.

"I don't want you to die, okay? I had to lie to Captain Qwark and say you were a raccoon!" she said, fighting to keep her volume down. Her body lightly trembled as her nervousness spiked and she temporarily lost her cool.

"Please, the other Galactic Rangers have tried and failed to kill me dozens of times already-"

Elaris interrupted him before he could mention the time he fell off the Deplanetizer and turned into a robot. She couldn't help it - she didn't like the fact that he was starting to wear that traumatizing incident like a badge of honor. Or, even worse, like he was _immortal_.

"Digging in the dumpsters in Galactic Rangers HQ where the entire city's police force can descend on that location at the press of a button is reckless even for you!" she said, her voice still hovering at the volume of a whisper but also carrying a deadly edge that even made even Nefarious pause.

"Okay, _Mom_ , I promise I won't do it again..." he said quietly, smug yet defeated. It was obvious from his tone of voice that he wasn't going to press the issue anymore. He instead looked away from her and started examining the electronics again, humming softly to himself as he picked through wires and chips.

"Ignore the displays on some of the monitors, I haven't used them since...well..."

Nefarious turned one of them on. Orange light bathed his body, drowning out his own body's red and green lights, as he stared at blueprints for the missing planetary fragment of Novalis. His smugness evaporated as his face became unreadable. He made a noise in his throat that was hard for Elaris to decipher as he slowly rubbed a hand across the surface while Elaris stood there awkwardly, her hands awkwardly pinned against her sides. The silence was so thick that it almost gained a sentience of its own.

Thankfully Zed darted in and filled the dead air. Unlike Elaris and Nefarious, Zed wasn't even attempting to whisper.

"Oooh, this will go great in the new lair you're building! This type of orange display will make for some absolutely atmospheric mood lighting! Just think of your two archenemeses in your clutches, huddled together as they're bathed in a spooky orange light-"

" _Zed_." Nefarious hissed.

"Plus it'll be great memories! Look, it's the Deplanetizer experiment! It's how I met you two-"

" _ZED_."

Zed went quiet, mimed zipping his lip, and flashed Nefarious a double thumb's up that was promptly ignored.

"Yeah..." Elaris finally said, mentally not putting "meeting Zed" anywhere on her list of accomplishments. She shot Zed a glare while Zed smiled at her, hands still frozen in a terrible thumb's up gesture.

Even though Zed was physically very harmless and was more annoying than anything else, he was also a shameless and utterly unrepentant traitor that stabbed Ratchet's adoptive father in the back when Grim had offered him a job and a place to stay while Zed recovered from working for Drek. The Galactic Rangers all gave Zed a second chance and took pity on him and instead of bettering himself, he joined up with Dr. Nefarious.

Zed should be lucky that Elaris wasn't literally any other Galactic Ranger on the team, because all of her coworkers currently saw Zed as a "shoot on sight" target for his crimes. And Elaris didn't blame them.

"Everything seems to be in order..." Nefarious said, electing to change the subject. "No bugs, no tracking devices, no bombs, nothing sabotaged, no visible ambushes..." he said that last part while glancing up at the tops of the buildings surrounding them.

"You can trust me."

The second part of the sentence - " _because I'm not you_ " - went unsaid, but it was heard by all three occupants. Nefarious snorted through his nonexistent nostrils and went back to checking the discarded electronics. The unreadable expression that appeared when he first saw a reminder of The Deplanetizer never returned. Elaris never pressed the issue.

The rest of the conversation was more technical, since neither of them wanted to linger in that alleyway longer than necessary. Occasionally Nefarious would ask a question about the serial codes of a part that he was holding in his hand, and Elaris would answer mechanically in a quiet, even tone. Zed didn't try to butt into the conversation again, partly because Elaris and Nefarious were both saying words too complex for him to understand. He did start to beatbox though, which annoyed both scientists.

Her part played, Elaris turned to leave, her feet narrowly dodging trash with each step. Nefarious was holding up his half of the bargain - there was no surprise ambush and he wasn't shooting her in the back with a new experimental gun. She was letting him leave in peace and he was letting her leave in peace.

' _If anything, he's probably delighted that he got me to do something underhanded for a change.._.' Elaris thought to herself, her face flushing.

Instead, she heard her name. She turned to look at him. Yellow eyes met with burning red eyes from several feet away.

"My offer still stands, Elaris." Was all Nefarious said from his half of the alleyway. He was nonchalantly unfolding his sunglasses to once again hide his metallic eyes.

Elaris never faltered. She remembered his offer all too well.

 _"Quit the Galactic Rangers, Elaris. We can rule this galaxy_ _**together** _ _! You're destined for better things!"_

Despite everything, Elaris found herself smiling.

"So does mine." she replied coolly.

Nefarious frowned when he remembered her answer from last time.

" _I will quit the Galactic Rangers if you turn yourself in and let me help you._ _ **You're**_ _destined for better things._ "

Nothing else was said. They exchanged one more glance, each of them lingering for far longer than they should have as they locked eyes for one more time, before, once again, in that cold deserted alleyway, they found themselves walking opposite paths.

* * *

**END**

**Author's Note:**

> I'm choosing to write Dr. Nefarious just a tiny bit different here since the Life of Pie short confirmed that the 2016 movie/game leads into a completely different universe, so this is a Dr. Nefarious that has slightly different baggage and is actually a good deal younger than the game's version of Dr. Nefarious. While I headcanon that Dr. Nefarious in the games is in his 30's, the Dr. Nefarious in Life of Pie feels a good ten years younger than that and gives off the aura of someone who is still trying to figure a lot of stuff out. So I'm not trying to make him TOO out of character but I also want to give him a more hammy "I'm not an established villain yet so I'm going to be cool and rude" attitude.


End file.
